In connection with the sealing of, for example, the upper and lower flap members of cases or cartons, into which a particular product has been deposited for shipment, transportation, or distribution, various types of case sealer assemblies or apparatus have been conventionally employed which effectively convey the cases or cartons, to be sealed, into and through a sealing station at which, for example, upper and lower flap member sealing mechanisms, comprising sealing tape cartridges, are disposed so as to in fact achieve the sealing of the upper and lower flap members of the cases or cartons. A significant operational drawback characteristic of such conventional, prior art case sealer assemblies or apparatus comprises, however, the fact that in order to accommodate and process various different cases or cartons having various, differently sized dimensions, the distance between the oppositely disposed drive mechanisms of the case sealer assembly or apparatus must be manually adjusted with respect to each other, when accommodating or processing various, differently sized cases or cartons, so as to in fact enable the case or carton drive mechanisms of the case sealer assembly or apparatus to properly engage the side wall portions of the particular case or carton to be sealed. More particularly, for example, if the interior width dimension of the case sealer assembly or apparatus is slightly smaller than the exterior width dimension of the particular case or carton being conveyed or driven through the sealing station of the case sealer assembly or apparatus, then there is a substantial likelihood that the particular case or carton will become stalled within the case sealer assembly or apparatus whereby continuous processing of cases or cartons through the case sealer assembly or apparatus will become jammed, or, still further, the particular case or carton will effectively be crushed within the case sealer assembly or apparatus. Conversely, if the interior width dimension of the case sealer assembly or apparatus is slightly greater than the exterior width dimension of the particular case or carton being conveyed or driven through the sealing station of the case sealer assembly or apparatus, then there is a substantial likelihood that the side wall portions of the particular case or carton will not be properly engaged by means of the drive mechanisms of the case sealer assembly or apparatus whereby, again, proper and continuous processing of the cases or cartons through the sealing station of the case sealer assembly or apparatus will be compromised.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved case sealer assembly or apparatus wherein, not only can the disposition of the pair of oppositely disposed drive mechanisms, for propelling or conveying the multiplicity of cases or cartons through the sealing station of the case sealer assembly or apparatus, be manually moved toward or away from each other so as to initially adjust the lateral distance defined between the pair of oppositely disposed drive mechanisms to any one of an infinite number of predetermined dimensions whereby various different cases or cartons, having various, different predetermined width dimensions, can be accommodated by means of the case sealer assembly or apparatus, but in addition, the pair of oppositely disposed drive mechanisms can be mounted for automatic expansible movement with respect to each other such that for each predetermined interior width dimension of the case sealer assembly or apparatus, as defined between the pair of oppositely disposed drive mechanisms, manually adjusted with respect to each other, additional automatic adjustment of the interior width dimension, defined between the pair of oppositely disposed drive mechanisms, can be automatically achieved, without the need for further or additional manual adjustment of the pair of oppositely disposed drive mechanisms with respect to each other, whereby various different cartons or cases, having various different width dimensions within a predetermined range of width dimensions, can in fact be accommodated.